Category Archives: Top Ten & Other Lists

#1 Arsenal and Wenger are the biggest losers. Sold their leftback. Sold their right winger to a rival. Offering £95m for Lemar reeks of desperation. Retained their disillusioned talisman whose will to play is now questioned, and will be available for free next summer. Surely a scramble for his signature ensues in January. I wonder how Lacazette is feeling. Too bad Atletico’s ban was upheld if not he’ll be there and Griezmann would be at United.

#2 Financial Fair Play is a load of rubbish. Impossible for PSG to have enough income to support the acquisition of £198m Neymar and £166m Mbappe. Insane amount of money for just two players. And with Dembele costing Barca £95m, Pogba looks cheap now and Ronaldo felt like a bargain. So it’s good for United, because it means the world record transfer fees have been broken multiple times in one window.

#3 The past record monies paid for Ronaldo, Bale and Pogba took a long time for the clubs to negotiate and a long time for the fans to come to terms with. But these days and probably from this point on, we won’t even bat an eyelid or flinch when the numbers soar above £90m. But the craziest thing about it is that clubs have to pay upwards of £30-40m for average players! Really makes £34m Bailly, £38m Mhkitaryan, £34m Shaw and £32m Herrera look affordable.

#4 Liverpool is trying to do to Saints what Barca is doing to them. The £120m price quoted for Coutinho is good, so they are silly to retain a demoralised player. Could have reinvested that amount in other places. Salah is a shrewd signing but Ox is a strange one – where is he going to play? And honestly, Keita who? £48m for an unknown that can’t even play now? I’m also shocked they haven’t strengthened their leaky defence. With such figures floating around (like £70m for VVD), Pool fans have lost their moral high ground to criticise United’s spending, or Pogba’s price. Oh, and Klopp selling Sakho tells us that he rates him higher than Lovren and Matip. Wonder what Pool fans think of that.

#5 You can’t help but to feel bad for Chelsea (okay, not really). Got rejected by Lukaku, Oxlade, Llorente (and Matic), and now, even Barkley. Imagine that. It’s unimaginable how sad their allure is as reigning EPL champions. I truly wonder how “first priority” Rudiger, Drinkwater, Zappacosta, Morata and Bakayoko are.

#6 Everton did well in the transfer market, for United, that is. They signed “legend” Rooney who still sleeps in Toffee pajamas, Sigurdsson just before we played Swansea, and signed a former United youth player. With so many former United players already there, they feel like a United B team.

#7 Tottenham did well too, to hold on to their star players while managing to get £52m for Walker, £17m a-piece for Wimmer and Bentaleb, and sign £12m Llorente and £23m Aurier for prices that actually reflect their market value. Levy has always been impressive in that way. Annoying, but so effective. Can no longer bully Spurs to sell.

#8 City, managed by Fraudiola, has spent £160 m on a backline that doesn’t even look inspiring. £46m for Walker, £52 for EPL-unproven Mendy, £36m for EPL-unproven Eder, and £27m for EPL-unproven Danilo and selling their ONLY youth product from last year tell me that Pep has been severely overrated as a manager who is reputed to develop players. And him not getting Alexis while unsettling him means it’s a win-win for all of us.

#9 While this may sound like an ugly baby phenomenon, I honestly think United are the biggest winners of this window. First time in a while we are not panicking on Deadline Day. Unlike Moyes who has no clue, and LVG who has a scattergun approach, Jose looks like he knows what he’s doing. Got an established EPL champion to play the position we’ve been missing, releasing Pogba for rampage. Got an established EPL goalscorer to plunder against weaker sides, solving the unceasing home draws we had last season. Re-signed our charismatic talismanic top scorer as a supersub. And best of all, we kept De Gea for another season. I still think United has overpaid for all their players this window but in context of an insane market, the prices seem reasonable.

#10 I tried to be objective but I will admit that there’s a bit of bias and some trolling in this post. I’m expecting some backlash. Ha. Let’s talk football. International friendlies are a waste of time. Gonna be a quiet weekend. Peace out.

It has been over half a year since I last blogged. I had always wanted to resume writing regularly, not for public reading but personal rigour. However, it has become increasingly difficult with different commitments vying for my time and attention.

I certainly miss the catharsis of writing — where I can reflect, process and record my frank thoughts, raw feelings and divinely appointed experiences. Somehow, writing slows down my life and helps me to savour the moments.

So without much fanfare, I shall attempt to restart tonight. After all, there is no better time to write than now.

A few days ago, I stopped my car in the middle of Grange Road to attend to a motorist who was trapped underneath her own motorcycle.

I was about 300 metres away when I saw the toppled motorcycle. In those short seconds of approaching her location, I was certain that there must have been many other drivers who had driven past her earlier on, and pretended to be oblivious to her obvious distress.

True enough, at least another five vehicles had zoomed past her before I could turn on my hazard lights and stop my car just behind her motorbike. I literally parked in the centre of a three-lane road and a potential traffic congestion was the last thing on my mind.

I did what every normal person would do if he witnessed something abnormal on the road — help.

I never knew how heavy a motorcycle was until I assisted her; there was no way she could have lifted it up on her own.

She told me that a taxi driver had hit her and then sped away. Thankfully, she said she was not hurt and surprisingly, she was not upset at all. Maybe it was the adrenaline from her struggle, maybe she was at fault, or maybe she was just grateful to be alive.

As I raised her motorbike, I was joined by another man who did the same normal thing I did; he stopped his SUV and got out to help this woman in her late 40’s.

Once she was back on her feet and sat on her motorbike, she appreciated the both of us, assured us that she was fit enough to resume riding, and went on her way. I would probably never meet her again and chances are, even if I did, I would not recognise her.

The entire incident was over in less than a couple of minutes (and I was on my bluetooth headset with KY the whole time) but it got me thinking about what it meant to help others.

1. The right person to help is often the first person who helps.

2. The first person who helps naturally invites the second person to help.

3. Everyone needs help, but they may not be able or know how to tell you.

To facilitate my cafe-hunting adventures with the missus, I’ve consolidated the names and addresses of existing cafes in Singapore and created an easily-accessible directory of cafes in Singapore grouped by locality. So thanks to referencing excellent food websites like ladyironchef and burpple, I am able to share this categorised list with you. Do let me know if there are any cafes I should be including or excluding. Hope you find this helpful! (:

Instead of lamenting over the Singapore haze situation and pouring out my woes on social media (which adds zero value to this pseudo national crisis IMHO), I found ten ways to be thankful for the wind beneath my wings…

The last time Singapore had such unhealthy PSI readings was in October 2006 (I think). Let’s be thankful that we’ve enjoyed clear skies for nearly seven years!

In moments like these, you should be pleased that you’re not in Sumatra or any of the northern Indonesian islands – it could be been far worse!

Isn’t it good that at least Singapore has a tropical climate where rain could come anytime to wash the haze away? Places in summer now (especially desert places) won’t even smell precipitation for weeks!

Let’s rejoice that that Singapore’s transportation system is nearly 100% air-conditioned; when I was a teenager, buses were ventilated by natural wind! And if you’re a car owner, be contented for your own set of wheels and instead of contending with the smoke while commuting – imagine those who are cycling!

It’s a good sign that lesser people (especially teenagers) are on the streets because they’d rather be indoors, whether at home, in the office or in malls – out of the streets, out of trouble!

Let’s be relieved that at least everyone in Singapore is united by the same public enemy – instead of population, politics or (gender) preference issues!

Believe it or not, I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness to us in the way that He led the Israelites through the wilderness in a pillar of cloud and fire – sounds like concentrated haze in a column to me!

For all you photographers out there, let’s get trigger happy for this is the only time where you can capture pictures with a natural “smoke out” effect without using any filter!

For those who aspire to be ninjas, this is your time to bring out your face masks and actually look socially acceptable – when else would you get away with it!?

And finally, if this situations worsens, the government might start ordering people to stay indoors to avoid the haze – I can hear students and national servicemen cheering already!

I’m forcing myself to do this before I sleep so that I don’t sink into an unexplainable post-sermon depression; yes, once again I feel like I’ve preached the worst sermon of my life. And this is one of the lowest moments in my short journey as a preacher.

1. 322: our highest attendance for a combined youth service in a very long time. The GII Sanctuary was packed and buzzing with energy indeed.

2. 29: the highest number of newcomers for a youth service – proud of our youths who brought their friends and those who had the courage to invite.

3. 6: first-time salvations. And countless rededications. Without a doubt everything that happened tonight must be credited to God. All honour to Him alone.

4. Stella and Caleb: respectively, the brain behind the creative concept (we took a risk with this format of Easter) and the hands that helped the brain bring the plan come to life.

5. Swift: reading their praise reports on whatsapp and rejoicing with them for the success they experienced tonight with their region – something they really needed for all the hard work they’ve out in.

6. Worship: I could really sense the comforting presence of the Lord tonight and that the R-AGErs were so sincere in their response to God. Nell did a good job too – this young lady has a real anointing. One of those evenings where you wished you could linger a little longer.

7. Performers and crew: they just get younger and younger, don’t they? The average age of the youths serving and making a contribution across the board has lowered and their potential excites me. This X team was so committed and dedicated to their roles; they really pulled off something massive.

8. Soon Huat, his team of cleaners and the youths’ parents: for being so patient and understanding although we ended so late. My sincere apologies for that. I hope it doesn’t happen again.

9. Huiyi: who patiently and painstakingly encouraged, counselled and assured me from the moment I left the stage all the way until now. I cannot imagine sinking into this pit without her by my side. Thank you for praying for me and embracing me in my moment of weakness.

10. God: that He would even use a wretched, broken and untalented pastor like me to preach His Word, and was gracious enough to even send Yixian to encourage and pray for me – I didn’t deserve that. Father, I’m sorry for tonight. I’ll do better next time. Thank You for Your faithfulness and for showing up tonight – it would have been disastrous if You didn’t. All glory belongs to You.

It has been a humbling and forgettable night. In Jesus’ name, please take these negative thoughts and feelings away from me.

It is impossible to stay on the path of holiness unless I have the enabling grace of God; and yet so often I depend on my strength to become strong in God – what a tragic paradox. Perhaps my carnality compels me to do that instinctively because I do not understand the grace of God intimately and experientially.

The psalmist beckons me to depend on God to:

Give me life

Teach me His statutes

Make me understand

Strengthen me

Put false ways far from me

Teach me His law

Let me not be put to shame, and

Enlarge my heart

Perhaps this is only possible if I:

Tell Him my ways

Meditate on His works

Choose the way of faithfulness

Set His rules before me

Cling to His testimonies

Run in the way of His commandments

Holy Spirit, please help me to quicken my spiritual senses; I need You to help me pray unceasingly. I desire to seek the Lord before I embark on every task so that I can regularly reorientate my focus. I boldly ask You to help me by reminding me, so that I may respond by remembering to pray, and eventually relying on You becomes a required routine of my life.

***

No Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? No problem. No Football Manager? No problem. No unedifying words? No problem. No air-conditioning? No problem. No meat, sugar, snacks and tidbits? No problem. But no morning coffee? Oh I felt its absence as early as the second hour into the lecture.

I have three lists: start doing, stop doing and still doing. It’s easy to stop, hard to start but hardest to be consistent.

I know it’s only the first day, but I’m ultra-Sanguine about what I want to achieve and I need the Lord to still my heart in pacing myself. Am I disappointed because I failed to do what I had set out to do today? Perhaps. But what I want to be disappointed about is that I didn’t, couldn’t and haven’t met Christ today. I am reminded that it’s not about accomplishments for Christ but about alignment to Christ.

God is faithful – what I had contemplated upon this past week was confirmed in the first lecture on spiritual direction; I am certain that my maiden Quadregesima will alter my spiritual life forever. I go to bed tonight with a plethora of expectations soaked in optimism but littered with potentially prideful intentions. Oh may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing unto You, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer.

Jesus, I’m here to meet with You, won’t You come and meet with me? I want to taste a morsel of Paul’s experience when he said, “For me to live is Christ!” May You be centralised in my life all over again.

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About Me

Pastor Joey Asher Tan is the Head of Next-Gen ministries in Grace Assembly of God, Singapore. He leads the youth and young adult ministries and oversees the children’s ministry. Together with his staff team, Joey pastors over 1,000 young people across two church campuses. He is a licensed minister with the Assemblies of God Council in Singapore and also serves as its Next Generation Commission coordinator. Joey is a passionate communicator and has preached in schools, camps and conferences across Singapore. He has also spoken to young people and trained youth pastors and leaders in more than 10 countries. Joey is married to Huiyi, and together they have two pre-school children, Eden and Judah. He will be attaining his Master of Divinity from Singapore Bible College in May 2019. In the same month, Joey will also be embarking on his Doctor of Ministry in Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (Boston).